LINO – Libertarian In Name Only

ORLANDO, Florida – Barely twenty-four hours in and already the Libertarian party of two thousand and sixteen is starting to experience dissention in the ranks.

Over Memorial day weekend Libertarians came together from across the country and around the world to nominate their president and vice presidential candidates at their annual national party convention. And for many the top of the ticket for the fall and the general election season is troubling, deeply troubling.

Many Libertarians say that with the assention of former Massachusetts Governor William Weld to the vice presidency that it will just give the North American Union types and Wall Street Big Money Donors a paper tiger in a Gary Johnson administration, should he win the presidency in the fall.

Because from sun-drenched Florida and the grave of the late great Economist Harry Browne, the 1996 and 2000 Libertarian party nominee for President of the United States of America, you can hear the battle cry of LINO – Libertarian In Name Only!

No doubt the Johnson-Weld ticket will tell Libertarians and you fellow voter nothing could be further from the truth. No paper tigers here, no LINO’s allowed! And so it will go, no?

But lets look at it from this perspective for just a minute, shall we? My prediction is that the Johnson-Weld ticket will be Libertarian-lite in that they’ll run under the Libertarian party banner but will, instead, draw from the well of the Never Trump Never Hillary movements in a kind of “A Coalition of the Willing.” Or as Bill Clinton and Dick Morris did so infamously in the 1990’s, “Triangulation.

Seeking out those disgruntled and disavowed  Democrats and Republicans who just can’t stand the idea, much less stomach it, of another Clinton or that for matter a Donald J. Trump in The White House.

Or, maybe not? Maybe just maybe it’s what they all really want, and it’s just going to be made to look like it’s not? Just so the media, talking-heads, politicos and party bosses can have something to talk about on the nightly news.

In either case I like Bill Weld and have enormous respect for Gary Johnson, ever since 2011 when he first ran for the presidency. Then as now Johnson stands for some of the same things that I do, but with Charles and David Koch, through Bill Weld, pulling on Johnson like he’s a puppet and they’re the masters even I can’t stomach that!

I hate Charles and David Koch with every fiber of my being for what they have done to this great country of ours and this beautiful world in which we all live. They are evil incarnate, in my opinion, and hell itself would be a far worse place with them in it.

I call LINO – Libertarian in Name Only! And for those disgruntled and disaffected Libertarians I offer this as your Battle Cry:

Hold fast, and as Jesse Ventura says, “Stay Vigilant…”

–Rhett.

“My name is Paul Wellstone and I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party!” – Paul Wellston, #RIP

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The Honorable Paul D. Wellstone, PD-MN. (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002)

Years ago PD – Progressive Democrat Paul David Wellstone very famously quipped: My name is Paul Wellstone and I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party! And ever since the Democratic party has been trying to figure out what such a human qualifier like that even means?

But with the advent of Progressive firebrands like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren that human qualifier is being answered.

This weekend the Libertarian party or Libertarian National Committee held its national convention in Orlando, FL. C-Span covered the live event. I pretty much watched it all the way through, making a few exceptions for normally scheduled television and “honey-dos” for my lovely wife along the way. LOL.

I live in Kentucky and a few weeks prior to this event I sat down and made this video on Kentucky primary day for 2016. Take a look:

As most of you know I am throughly disgusted  with the 2016 Democratic primary process. In particular how it is that Hillary Clinton has come so far without real question or scrutiny? Essentially, being handed my Democratic party’s nomination for the presidency of the United States of America in two thousand and sixteen.

Over this Memorial day weekend I have been thinking a lot about Mr. Wellstone and his epic qualifier and in the video above I lamented that after this Democratic primary and in particular the general election cycle for 2016 I am through with the Democratic party. Resolving to go the way of Independent or Decline to Say in terms of my voter registration thereafter.

Seemingly I’m not alone in this as many in the Republican party have followed suit. Burning their voter registration cards in effigy, like the peace nicks of the 1960’s that burned their draft cards as opposed to being drafted for service in the Vietnam War or the Women of the Women’s Liberation Movement who burned their bras and kitchen aprons as well.

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But after this weekend and the last Libertarian presidential debate on C-span for 2016, and the epic opening and closing statements of Dr. Marc Allan Feldman and Mr. Darryl W. Perry my faith in humanity and the Democratic party has been renewed! Because it was both these men that managed to stir the echoes and fan the flames of democratic progressivism anew for me personally. Watch.

Hearing these men’s words and the stir of echoes from the late great Paul Wellstone in 1990 when it was first running for the United States Senate from Minnesota has renewed and restored my faith in the Democratic part of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. Renewed that there is hope. Promise. And people out there filled to overflowing with a heart for the People of America and the World.

We cannot now nor anytime in the future let up folks. Our foot must stay on the gas pedal of progress, BUT not the kind of progress we’re seeing today. Instead it should be the progress that people like Senator Wellstone and so many others have advocated for, some for years some for decades, from the very beginning.

That healthcare for all is a fundamental right and not a privilege. That people deserve and have earned the right to a livable wage and a standard of living with access to housing and public transportation that is commiserate with the times. The right to organize and unionize for representation at the table of free markets. That as Americans we have a right to expect that our government will keep its nose out of our bedrooms and off our bodies. The right to come and go as we please and do business or not do business; politically, socially or ecumenically with nation’s, Peoples and places of our choosing. And the right that when we retire medicare, Medicaid and social security will be their for us in the twilight of our ‘golden years’.

To many these ideals seem ‘high-minded’, ‘professorial’ and downright nice, BUT they are ideals ‘devoid of reality’, for now. But that through the advent of time, hard work, dedication and small ball politics we’ll get there, eventually. Afterall this is not Scandinavia or the Republic of Myanmar, we are told. “Hello. I’m earth. Have we met?” And so it goes, right?

I am all for third political parties because they keep the Republican and Democratic parties honest and accountable. They hold the two-party system in this country to a full accounting of the American people. Moving forward in 2016 third political parties can and should expect more mainstream viewership.

Not all that long ago I was reading a posting from former Independent Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura that said that there is the very real possibility that we could see the emergence of three or four [mainstream] political parties from this 2016 election cycle. Giving us, the Voters, all the more to choose from. And as a Progressive, never mind a Democrat, I’m all for that. More Voices. More Choices, and when I get elected to high office I will work to preserve, protect and defend voting and the free exercise thereof for any candidate or political party of your choice, regardless of names behind it or the money that it has in its coffers.

And speaking of, “money in politics” or the epic Citizens United Supreme Court case I have to, as a Progressive Democrat, draw a line in the sand. And push back against the idea that somehow people like Charles and David KochFoster Friess and Sheldon Adelson, just to name a few BIG MONEY donors, will get to dictate to Us, We the American Voters that is, how our political process or Our Future should be.

BIG MONEY politics is not a march towards progress at all, instead its a means to an end.

And if true BIG MONEY donors, like the ones I just mentioned, will, through these Never Trump and Never Hillary movements, co-opt folks, good folks at that, like former Governor of New Mexico and 2016 Libertarian presidential nominee Gary E. Johnson and former Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor  and 2016 Libertarian vice presidential nominee William F. Weld or the Johnson-Weld Campaign for 2016, all for the sake of ballot access in all fifty states and an inside tract towards the interworkings of American democracy.

That is WHY I am renewed, restored and resolved to making the Democratic party Democratic again. Progressive again. Giving people a viable alternative(s) that will speak to and do far more than  just be this candidate or a part of that political movement because its popular or politically expedient.

Because it’s not about a person or a slogan, a campaign or a dream, instead its about us, all of us together. We are, after all, all in this thing called life together and we are only as good as the person next to us. No better and no worse.

My name is Rhett E. Column (aka David Davidson) and I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party! Care to join me in the march towards progressive ideals?

–Rhett.

It’s Troubling: A Manifesto to the ‘We Want It All’ Ruling Class

To those willing to read: This post will take a bit for you to get through, BUT I promise you, you will get through it and come away wanting a far better way of life than the one that you have now…

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“[The] Trail of Tears,” A painting, c. 2015…
The Faux Fo Pas, Politically Speaking:

If true, calls for the Revolution Leader Bernie Sanders to ‘drop out of the race’ for the Democratic candidacy for President of the United States of America in 2016 have begun in earnest now that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has inched herself ever more closer to becoming the defacto nominee of her party in two thousand and sixteen.

We’re told that calls such as these are normal, par for the course, etc. That it’s just political party bosses ‘sewing their oats’ and that since Mr. Sanders has built this grassroots movement, from the ground up for more than thirty years, and that’s nice and all, but look it Hillary Clinton is going to be the nominee come hell or high water so you little revolutionaries, you millennials, who don’t vote anyways, at least not enough of you to matter on the regular,  you just need to set down, shut up and get in line behind Hillary Clinton okay, or else – we’ll talk about what that terminology “or else” means a little later on in the read.

You’ve had your moment in the sun, raised some seriously issues and concerns, but at the end of the day we need adults in the room to govern not little saggy pant wearing potheads with their fingers on the wheels of democracy. Such doesn’t play well with others, after all, in certain Cosmopolitan [European] circles.

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“Angry,” Americans or Concerned Citizens?

And so it goes…

A Cautionary Tale about Revolution:

Revolution Leader Bernie Sanders is a nice old man, in his own way, were told. Is delivering a message of great social change(s) throughout America and the World, but this type of change(s) need to come slowly over space and time. That even Obama, when he first ran for the presidency of the United States in 2007,knew this, all to well. Or did he?

And us little people are reminded by those in authority over us, again and again, that these things are nice, make one feel really good deep down inside, but to just update your social media pages and forget all about it kids. Caution is the order of the day.

To ‘slow your roll’ or ‘pump your breaks’ their speed demon ‘Rome wasn’t built-in a day’ you know.

That these ideas are nice and all, but you can’t govern a nation and the free world in poetry, such takes prose or finesse Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have that finesse and would “make an excellent president, either one,” says the “political establishment,”watch:

And that the Revolution should go quietly into that long good night for your own (safety) good. That Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump are the ones to choose from, choose from these and these only and keep your mouth shut.

And so that goes…

All Throughout History Though… (Revolution/Change comes with a price. Are you willing to pay? I am!):

Since the dawn of recorded history there has been revolution or social change for the better, starting with the Revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe. Costing many lives, to be sure, but bringing about change for the better.

  1. The idea that a ban of people, large or small, no matter the cost or the obstacles that stand in their way, are determined to bring about change. And, again, its change for the better.
  2. The idea that everyone has the right to be free, especially those who have paid their debt to society – so-called.
  3. The idea that everyone has the right to healthcare and should not be charged for it. (Because it’s universally the same. In other words the rich or wealthy elite get the same exact healthcare as the poorest amongst us.)
  4. The idea that everyone has the right to a decent livable wage. (Bernie Sanders and others call [Fight] for $15 an hour and a Union to represent the worker…)
  5. The idea that you will be treated freely, fairly and equally no matter ‘what you look like or who you love.
  6. The idea that you will be treated fairly in an open court of law. (Regardless of race, color, creed, ethnic or national origins, etc.)
  7. The idea that as a woman you have the same rights as a man, and should be regarded with the same respect.

These ideas, while abstract to some, are in no ways new to others. Remember they’ve been around since 1848 Europe.

They are the things that human beings have been asking for since the Tower of Babel, in terms of communication and respect.

The idea that “No man is an island unto himself,”that we are “all in this together;” politically, socially and ecumenically. No one is better than the other. No idea is best overall. No one concept is better than the rest are. We are. Life is a  Collective Effort. When one of us hurts all of us hurts, and we should all be concerned about that. Watch.

And the idea that the elite and ruling class of this world cannot have it all. They do not own the world because the world belongs to us all, freely and equally.

Such an idea, such a notion scares the hell out of the establishment, here’s proof of that.

But this is just nuance, process or the tone and tenor of otherwise spirited debate on the campaign trail. Not unlike this I suppose from 2007?

But and again it could just be ,as they say, “all a part of the [political] process???” Or so they say.

And no one is to question these idioms of political process because a fear is instilled whenever questions arise through the rank and file of the people, by design to distract and deflect the people away from the truth. Not unlike that of the 9/11 attacks.

Watergate  or the Iran-Contra affair.

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Left to Right: Photos from the September 11th 2001 attacks, former Americans President Richard M. Nixon and the Watergate hotel complex in Washington, D.C. USA and former Lt. Col. Oliver North testifying, openly, at the Iran-Contra hearings in the 1980’s (photos courtesy of Wikipedia pages on these controversies and or catastrophic events in American [political] history)….
Known as false flags. They are conspiratorial in nature like the ones that online personalities the likes of Alex Jones and his infamous InfoWars and Prison Planet websites and that of Dr. Michael Savage and his Savage Nation talk radio program espouse. Or even that of WorldNetDaily and its controversial editor and chief Joe Farah,  which [again] are designed to distract and deflect the free world from the truth of the matter – whatever that matter or matters may or may not be.

In any case these are matters of the state that are long overdue to be settled no matter what the establishment might say or lead the public at large to believe. Because the public at large largely doesn’t believe them. Doesn’t buy into the official story.

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Mr. Andrew J. Breitbart (1969-2012) …

(Even the late great Andrew Breitbart and his infamous Breitbart News got their start in the land of conspiracy theory, false flag and conjecture before they went mainstream news organization on the masses not long after Mr. Breitbart’s demise.)

So We the People should just ignore the questions that we have free-flowing in our minds and skip right to the answers, right to the proverbial climatic ending because this is all very easily explained by those in the know IF we just give ourselves over to the answers, willingly of course.

And we must be willing. And when one is not willing then he is not a willing convert to the easily explained now is he/she?

This is all very easily explained.

And so it goes…

A Manifesto…A (friendly piece of advice) Warning:

We’re told by our media, political pundits and talking heads to not ever venture down the rabbit hole; politically, socially or ecumenically. To stay strictly away from the truth of the matter. Else will live to regret it “if you live long enough to do so,” as our Mama’s used to say to us whenever we misbehaved as children. Right?

Warning signs, roadblocks and distractions from the truth are put up all around us. Books. Movies. Television.

Leaving it up to us to decide as to whether or not we want to quote unquote “buy in to the notion” of this that or the other thing. Some do. Largely though, some don’t. And it’s really all up to the beholder of the information that is in front of them, clearly, as to whether or not they want to believe it or not, accept or reject it or not, but always with the WARNING always with the caveat: Do not venture down this rabbit hole of conspiracy because you will live to regret it [maybe].

But here’s the thing:

The Elite cannot have it all, because there’s plenty to go around – for all of us.

You read that right my fellow American, my fellow free Western Worlder. There is plenty to go around. Plenty of natural resources. Plenty of finances. Plenty of healthcare. Education. Transportation and the like to go around. Enough in fact to circle our globe multiple times over IF you are willing to give yourself over to the truth or the axiom of the Native American which reads:

“Take only what you need and leave the rest as you found it…”

It was both a warning and a friendly request to the early American settlers of the 16 and 1700’s that their were/are plenty of natural resources to go around just don’t abuse the privileges that Mother Earth has bestowed upon us all. But through the advent of social privilege and the social climate of the day most of the white European settlers forgot that warning, willingly, and proceeded to take and take and take some more.

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#quotesbyfamouspeople

Greed and selfish behavior is the problem and it will always be the problem until the problem is gotten rid of by the Peoples of this World.

And the absolute best example of where I can find, where I can look to for a much-needed repeat of history is in that of the assassination and slaughter of the brutal Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his Italian Socialist Party henchmen. Drug through the streets of present-day Milan, Italy he was drawn and quartered by the People of Italy in April of 1945. A fitting end to an otherwise brutal, brutal man.

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Italian Socialist Party Leader and brutal dictator Benito Mussolini (highlighted second from left) hanging from the rafters of a gas station in present-day Milan, Italy (photo courtesy of Wikipedia, 2016)…

Mussolini’s death is  a case study of what many, if not all, of our world leadership needs to endure. .

We have a duty to ourselves and our posterity to preserve what we can while it is still here. So as to replenish our natural supply. Otherwise people such as the Rothschild family, the Rockefeller family,  and many others will continue to take what is rightfully ours, the Peoples of this Earth’s.

We are our own best friend or our own worst enemy folks…Choice is yours, a decision has to be made before it is too late. I’ve made mine. Care to join me?

–Rhett.

“Southern Strategy” Much? – How both Republicans and Democrats shot themselves in the foot in terms of the Vote!

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(Atop photo) Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before the Select Committee on Foreign Intelligence for the United States Senate in 2013 over the Benghazi, Libya scandal… (Bottom photo) Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent turned Democrat) kicks off his 2016 presidential campaign outside of Burlington, VT. USA…

BROOKLYN, New York – Thursday night Democratic candidates for 2016, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, “got it on,” as they say, under all the hot lights and scrutiny of the day before a capacity crowd in Brooklyn, NY. USA. And to say that it was a heated debate between the two larger-than-life Democratic candidates would be an understatement.

It was doggy dog all night with both candidates experiencing scrutiny from the audience in attendance (in the make-shift style debate hall in a semi-abandoned warehouse in the New York City borough) to the journalists/hosts that moderate the debate for CNN & New York 1 to the candidates themselves as they traded barbs and jabs back and forth throughout the night.

And while some say that their was no clear winner or looser to emerge in Thursday night’s debate, the fallout from the debate or the narrative out of the ‘city so nice that they named it twice’ was that “Bernie Sanders denigrated the South and Hillary Clinton’s wins there in primaries and caucuses and when he was asked a specific question about the primary process and how it was really going in his opinion, he dodged the question”.

Lets be clear here for a minute: There is no question but that Hillary Clinton has done well in the South, all throughout this Democratic primary process for 2016 in fact, BUT lets look to the context and perhaps the method used for all those so-called “Solid South,” wins for Mrs. Clinton.

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“[A Map of] The Southern United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau,” for the Wikipedia page titled: Southern strategy…
According to reports from the United States [Bureau of the Census] the “Southern United States of America or the Southern most United States of America is defined ,geographically, as states in the Union below what is known as the Mason-Dixon Line. These are states in the union that receive the most warm-air climate in a given year per the dictates of the seasons and or climates here in the Continental United States of America that receive the best warm-air climate for nine or more period months out of a given calendar year…And these are States that have a race or class of people who are or who  feel that they are divided; politically, socially and ecumenically through no-fault of their own, BUT that their ancestry who participated in the so-called “War between the States” or the Civil War is to blame for all their troubles or social ills within this race or class of people living within the Continental United States of America…”

These states (highlighted in deep red on the map just above) are the States in the Union that make up the Southern most part of the Continental United States of America [excluding Alaska and Hawaii – highlighted on the map by squares on the bottom left hand side just above].

These are the Southern states, since the 1800’s and on here in America, that experienced and lived through, albeit survived, the Civil War’s Reconstruction period having undergone a political period known as the “Southern strategy” or the political as well as emotional  appeal to Southern White Democrats to vote for Republicans in primaries, caucuses and general national election cycles (visa versa).

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An editorial cartoon called “Mr. Solid South,” from Harper’s Weekly (1879) criticizing literacy tests in the South (photo taken from Wikipedia page titled: Southern strategy)…

Originally intended to benefit rich Southern white Democrats during the period of Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War it has instead proven a useful strategy, politically, for both parties since Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign perfected it in 1968.

Disaffected and disgruntled whites after the Civil War felt that they had no place to turn, no opportunities would ever be presented to them, no chance for advancement or a better life.

In view of the Civil War these Americans had betrayed their country, went against the Union of the United States of America, when they went to war against their fellow (Northern) Americans. And even though the South, as we know it today, lost that war they were still thrown a bone, politically, by the  “Party of [Abraham] Lincoln”.

Republicans strategized with Democrats in the Congress ‘that we’ll give you the South, politically, if you leave us alone in the North, Midwest and Western United States’.

Southern Democrats, in amazement, believed that they had been given a great gift. As a national as well as a Southern States and local political party got together and devised ways to punish not only the black man, but the poor white man as well, through poll taxes, Jim Crow Laws and literacy tests when it came to the people’s expressed desires to vote, hold and own land, etc…

“From 1890 to 1908, the white Democratic legislatures in every Southern state enacted new constitutions or amendments with provisions to disenfranchise most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites. Provisions required payment of poll taxes, and complicated residency,literacy tests, and other requirements, which were subjectively applied against blacks. As blacks lost their vote, the Republican Party lost its ability to effectively compete in the South. There was a dramatic drop in voter turnout as these measures took effect, a decline in African-American participation that was enforced for decades in all southern states….[All over the North]Editorial cartoons [such as this one featured above] from the January 18, 1879, issue of Harper’s Weekly [were seen] criticizing the use of literacy tests. It shows “Mr. Solid South” writing on the wall, “Eddikashun qualifukashun. The Blak man orter be eddikated afore he kin vote with us Wites.” – Taken from the Southern strategy Wikipedia page

In an unwritten deal in 1877 Republicans removed all federal troops from the South in exchange for the White House in the form of Rutherford B. Hayes v. Samuel J. Tilden. As a result Southern Democrats had a political stranglehold on the South until the Civil rights era of 1954 to 1968. And they expected to maintain power for a long time, that was until men like Vernon Johns and Martin Luther King, Jr. came along and forever changed the dynamics of protests for civil and human rights.

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Rev. Dr. Vernon L. Johns, M.E. & PhD (pictured on the left) and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. M.E. & PhD. (pictured on the right)…”The father and the son of the modern-day civil rights movement here in the United States of America…”

The undertakings of Johns and King (countless others) lead to the dismantling of decades of authoritarian rule, politically, through the subjugation of poor whites and blacks throughout the South. “Finally!” Many decried. “Someone that we can rely on to see us through to full freedom, justice and equality…[Voices for the voiceless.]”

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“[Count] How many Jelly Beans are in [this] jar,” an Illustration for this posting…
It would take nearly fifty years after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but all men are and should be created equally, right?

Wrong!

Fast-forward to today, and some would argue that the Southern strategy is in full effect as many believe that this is what Hillary Clinton used to propel herself to a “comfortable lead” against her opponent Bernie Sanders via the African-American vote in the South.

We may not make the ‘Negro’ of today ‘stand on one foot and count to 100 backward’ or ‘spell soap backward’ or ‘read the star-spangled banner on a piece of paper upside down’, BUT that through things like “voter id laws,” “real id laws,” (Willie Horton political campaign ads) etc. (An as yet alleged kinder and gentler tone and tenor has emerged to the once usual hue and cry of old, “Nigger, nigger, nigger [the Klan is getting bigger]!” – Lee Atwater)

That the past is just prolonged that it is a matter now of semantics, of political correctness and so-called “political establishment” that rules are days now. And we should just excuse this dementedly sad history all away now because a black man has been elected president in this country.

And soon enough a woman will get the honor and privilege to be called the same, right? So. Case. Closed. Right?

Wrong!

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Meet the “Southern Strategists,” from Reconstruction on. (Left to Right) Former Presidents of the United States of America Rutherford B. Hayes, Richard M. Nixon, Republican strategist, pollster, pundit and adviser to several Republican presidents Patrick J. Buchanan, Republican party ‘Hatchet Man’ Lee Atwater, ‘Dixiecrat’ and Segregationist Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, Jr. Former First Lady of Arkansas and the United States of America as well as former New York State Senator and Secretary of State (Democrat for President of the United States of America in 2008 & 2016) Hillary D. Rodham Clinton… (photos courtesy of Wikipedia, 2016 – photo editing done by Rhett E. Column, Say What News?!, 2016)…

Meet the unholy of political holiest that we have to thank for the Southern political strategy here in the United States of America.  These are the ones that we have to thank for things like Jim Crow laws, [racial] Segregation, poll taxes and  Literacy in the form of voter id laws that does noting but  test the will and resolve of blacks and poor Peoples throughout the South for centuries in terms of the vote.

Through legislation and taxation and with the help of organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC this faux fo pas trinity, since Reconstruction on, has managed to corner the market and pigeonhole the American democratic process in both the South and the whole of America.

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The Electorial College Map for the 1920 presidential campaign between Democrat James M. Cox and Republican Warren G. Harding (photo courtesy of Wikipedia page titled: Southern strategy)…

Republicans and Democrats from 1920 on have bought, sold and traded the American people, the American voter, for both political gain and power, but also for wealth and interests through the Southern strategy. Deploying and developing means, method, motive and opportunity to keep the American people under a type of authoritarian rule. In a kind of modern-day poll taxing-jellybean counting-read the U.S. Constitution backwards style body politic.

Confusing and putting the American people, the American voter, in a state of panic and disarray.  And no two were better at deploying the Southern strategy (deploying chaos and disarray) than Richard Milhouse Nixon and George Cornelius Wallace, Jr..

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(Left)’Dixiecrat’ and Segregationist Governor of Alabama George C. Wallace, Jr. and  (Right) former President of the United States of America Richard M. Nixon..(photos courtesy of Wikipedia, 2016 – photo editing by Rhett E. Column, Say What News?!, 2016)…

Like the Ancient Mongolians (Chinese) teaching the Ancient Romans how to Crucify, Wallace and Nixon perfected the crucifixion of the American people via the Southern strategy. Preying on the fears of the common white man towards the common black man. And in their wake of evil we are hung on the cross daily by things like mass incarceration, youth unemployment, police brutality, human and civil rights violations, deportation, debtors prisons, prolonged and enhanced interrogation techniques, spying, lying, drone warfare and perpetual or endless wars (by proxy) in far away places that we don’t even know nor have we ever heard of.

For what? Money. Power. Greed. The fevered dreams of an elite and ruling class of people fulfilled.

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2016 Democratic candidates for President of the United States of America (Left) Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (Right) former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (photos courtesy of the Bernie Sanders Campaign and the Hillary Clinton Campaigns – photo editing by Rhett E. Column, Say What News?!, 2016)…

The other night Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton met in Brooklyn for a twelfth time out of fourteen, reportedly, scheduled debates between the two Democratic candidates that are left.

Argument has been made, since, that Bernie Sanders is somehow excusing away the fact that Hillary Clinton won the Southern United States or the Deep South by an “overwhelming majority of the black American voter (something that Bernie Sanders himself would never ever be able to do because Bernie Sanders doesn’t know how to connect “properly” with black people and Hillary Clinton does, BECAUSE she is married to the “first black president this country has ever had” – and so it goes in implication),” and that IF she gets the nomination of her political party she will win the South by an “overwhelming majority” in a general election.

Depicting, somehow, a repeat performance of her husband, Bill Clinton’s, 1992 presidential campaign and his own Southern strategy in the form of the “Man from Hope [Arkansas]” and “I still believe in a place called Hope” Campaign theme(s) coming out of the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

And so therefore Bernie Sanders shouldn’t somehow ‘excuse away the once Solid South‘ for Democrats. Its happened before, and it can happen again. In this kind of R. Lee Ermey “Mississippi Burning,” Mayor remarks “our nigra were happy until you FBI men came down here” tail that wags the dog we gonna whip y’all in ta shape come hell or high water moment. ‘The South will rise again!’ And so it goes…

Us_south_census
Southern strategy , Solid south maps of the Southern most United States of America and former President William J. ‘Bill’ Clinton ‘tail wagging the dog’ finger pointing moment…

And Mrs. Clinton may well ‘Get Lucky in Kentucky’ and win the whole damn thing via the South, more power to her! But you must never ever forget that a Democrat running for the highest and best office in the land has not won in the Southern most United States of America since Bill Clinton, and that was without an overwhelming majority of the voting population there in a general election. – Not even the so-called ‘twice elected black man’ that’s in the White House now won the South with an overwhelming majority of the vote down there.

“Southern Strategy” Much?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

–Rhett.

 

“Judge not, less you be judged..” – Jesus Christ, The Holy Bible #quotesbyfamouspeople

Matthew 7:1-3 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Judging Others

[a]Do not judge and criticize and condemn [others unfairly with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge], so that you will not be judged [unfairly].For just as you [hypocritically] judge others [when you are sinful and unrepentant], so will you be judged; and in accordance with your standard of measure [used to pass out judgment], judgment will be measured to you. Why do you look at the [insignificant] speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice and acknowledge the [egregious] log that is in your own eye?

Footnotes:

  1. Matthew 7:1 This is not a prohibition of judgment, nor is it a command to stop using godly wisdom, common sense, and moral courage together with God’s written word to discern right from wrong, to distinguish between morality and immorality, and to judge doctrinal truth. There are many judgments that are not only legitimate, but are commanded (cf John 7:24; 1 Cor 5:5, 12; Gal 1:8, 9; 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 10); however, you cannot judge another if you are committing the same type of sin.

Amplified Bible (AMP)Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.

From questioning one’s qualifications to be President of the United States to questioning the judgement [of a woman to be President – its implied] of someone being President of the United States “on day one”. Some would say that Bernie Sanders stepped in it, big time, this week.

On Thursday of this week Senator Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet in as many weeks since they rolled into New York, New York for the Democratic primary process to become President of the United States in 2016, co-hosted by CNN and New York 1 (NY1).

And as the “J” and “Q” words along with “Gestapo tactics,” and[“the devil made me do it”] per Sanders’ Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver made their respective rounds in this primary process for two thousand and sixteen I couldn’t help but think of Jesus Christ’s own words and that of then Delaware Senator Joe Biden when discussing judgement. Watch.

And then watch this!

We can also take a few slips, trips and falls down memory lane here,here andhere.

“Full disclosure: I do not have absolute faith in the judgment and wisdom of the American people. We’re all human, and we can all be misled. When leaders don’t level with citizens, we can’t expect them to make good judgments. But I do have absolute faith in the heart of the American people. The greatest resource in this country is the grit, the resolve, the courage, the basic decency, and the stubborn pride of its citizens.” – “Promises to Keep,” By U.S. Senator Joe Biden, Page xx

You say well, “Bernie Sanders started it when he openly questioned Secretary Clinton’s foreign policy credentials.”

Tis true! He did. Watch.

But here’s the thing:  Prior to her excursions into “women and girls issues,”  “fighting for lgbtq [community],”  “women’s rights and equal rights,” etc. etc. we’re told that Hillary Rodham Clinton was a career woman, stay at home mom and a woman who was, “standing by my man…baking cookies”. And so it goes…

That was until she was judged by Democratic Socialist turned Social Democrat Bernie Sanders. Watch.

 

As with anything in politics you have what’s known as a walk back and the walk back started after Senator Sanders said this:

And continued on here:

But never one to be satisfied Hillary Clinton doubled down on the Senator’s comments about qualifications. Watch.

The New York, New York media scrum continued for these last many weeks, leading us up to these comments from Bernie 2016 Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver. Watch HERE. (Wow!)

JeffWeaverBernie2016CampaignHQ
Bernie 2016 Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver speaking at a press event in front of the campaign headquarters in Burlington, VT. USA (photo courtesy of Getty Images, 2016)…

And no doubt its wrong to say that someone made a “deal with the devil”, deliberately, BUT lets look at the context behind those words as well as the fallout from them since.

As I begin to close out this posting, and since Mr. Weaver spoke those words, a lot has happened.

There’s a strike on in the New England States with Verizon [Wireless] Communications. 

The head of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, and the GOP front-runner for 2016 ,Donald J. Trump, are fighting over wait for it, wait for it “GOP party rules,” and delegates. [In the wake of the Colorado GOP delegate fight.]

Love him or hate him Donald J. Trump, Sr. is driving the debate. Resetting the political pins at the bowling ally known as American democracy, and for some that’s pretty damn scary! Maybe even down right political sacrilege? But the bottom line is judgement. And judging not lest you be judged.

denouncetrump_email

And in the last two weeks more questions have been raised about judgement and qualifications in terms of the Democratic (as well as the Republican) primary process for 2016 in the Empire State than ever. “Who’s ready to be President on day one?” Etc. Etc.

For me, at least, it all adds up to one thing. One saying, one expression in the form of action, “Judge not, least you be judged” so says the Lord Jesus Christ, and that for me says everything BECAUSE if you can’t function, perform as a fellow human being, behave accordingly as an American running for the highest and best office in the land THEN you have no business doing so. And in Christ’s own words you will be judged accordingly.

–Rhett.

Hey Hillary! Do us a favor ‘FIRE’ Rahm Emanuel & Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

They say that politics makes for strange bedfellows, and its taken me most of my life to understand what that even means and it wasn’t until this national election cycle, in fact, that I’ve come to fully understand its true meaning.

Take for instance long-time newsman, pundit and one-time politico for the Lyndon Baines Johnson  presidential administration Mr. Bill Moyers.

MrBillMoyers
Mr. Bill Moyers speaking with his staff and writers for the “Bill Moyers Show,” on PBS in 2010 (photo courtesy of the Boston Globe)

Mr. Moyers and one of his staff writers sat down to pen a kind of op-ed/open letter of request to 2016 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to ‘fire’ Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (as the Chairwoman for the Democratic party) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel…Well. Not ‘fire’ – forgive the Donald Trump ‘Apprentice’ reference – but call for their immediate resignation.

And after reading through Mr. Moyers & Company’s pleading (reported on The Daily Kos from BillMoyers.com today) it confirms for me, all along what I’ve been saying as well as so many others. That Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have “got to go! Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho!”

As Moyers and a man named Michael Winship starts to write it:

“[T]here are two Democrats whose resignation from office right now would do their party and country a service.”

And in the wake of Trump presidential campaign manager Corey Lewandowski’s arrest. And subsequent calls for his ouster from the Trump campaign I thought it only fair to point out the irony in all this, especially on the Democratic side of the ledger, and its this particular irony that I happen to agree, on all counts.

 

CoreyLewandowski
Mr. Corey Lewandoski, Donald J. Trump 2016 Presidential Campaign Manager (photo courtesy of The PalmBeachPost.com)

Mr. Lewandoski should be fired – so should Wasserman-Schultz and Rahm Emanuel. You cannot knowingly or unknowingly put your hands on another human being and expect to get away with it.

And as luck would have it this is not the first time Mr. Lewandowski has had trouble with the law. In 1999 he was arrested after attempting to bring a loaded weapon into the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Before that he was charged with assault and battery after having bit a fellow campaign staffer’s ear according to this report from the PalmBeachPost.com in the early 1990’s while working on a Congressional campaign in his home state of New Hampshire, the first mainstream campaign he ever worked on.

What, I wonder, happened to three-strikes and you’re out?

By all rights and accounts Mr. Lewandowski shouldn’t just be in jail, BUT under it. Affluenza anyone? Anyone?

We are told though that all of this is just nuance. Side show. Carnival barker stuff. And to ignore the obvious for obvious sake. Act as if nothing ever happened. That this is all just make-believe. Pretend. For ratings in a presidential election year. Culminating into this sort of Max Von Sydow ‘Needful Things’ – esque “Hey these things happen,” moment:

No. These sort of things don’t just happen politically or otherwise. They are be design and purpose. Not to say that Ms. Fields, the reporter to which Mr. Lewandowski is alleged to have assaulted in Jupiter, FL. earlier this month, set all this up to happen, BUT that she was used and has been used as a message board for both the left and the right politically. Excused away, almost, by both; in lieu of her ’15 minutes of fame’ in the mosh pit known as social media.

For his part Mr. Lewandowski maintains his ‘innocence’ and his boss, Mr. Donald J. Trump, is ‘Standing by his man’. Watch.

Doubling down, as early as yesterday evening during a town hall event on CNN, on Lewandowski staying put in the presidential campaign:

And in the midst of this political circus are the voices of calm and reason. Myself. Mr. Bill Moyers and so many others.

Guys who are saying, “Whoa! Wait a minute. Hold on just one minute here. This guy – Lewandowski – needs to be put in jail! And damn it all to hell Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Rahm Emanuel need to exit stage left…”

And speaking further on the exit of Wasserman-Schultz and Rahm Emanuel Mr. Moyers & Mr. Winship wrote:

“Their disappearance might also help Hillary Clinton convince skeptical Democrats that her nomination, if it happens, is about the future, and not about resurrecting and ratifying the worst aspects of the first Clinton reign when she and her husband rarely met a donor to whom they wouldn’t try to auction a sleepover in the Lincoln Bedroom.”

That Mrs. Clinton in all her political resplendent should ‘man up’ and:

“… come right [on] out and ask for the resignations of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Democratic National Committee Chair — and Florida congresswoman — Debbie Wasserman Schultz.”

But because of their ties to Wall Street and the so-called ‘payday lenders’ the ‘deep-pocket donor class’ that Mrs. Wasserman-Schultz and Rahm Emanuel are connected to at the hip, Mrs. Clinton will ‘suffer in silence’ politically for the sake of big money and the opportunity to rub even more unknown elbows like that of Illinois Fat Cat Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican for the sake of a ‘Few Dollars More’ – Allah Clint Eastwood and his Spaghetti Western of old.

Moyers and Winship point out that in the case of Emanuel he has raised ‘untold millions, if not billions of dollars’ for the Clinton’s’ [Bill and Hillary] since his early days as then Clinton hatchet man for the first presidential campaign there.

“Rahm Emanuel first came to prominence as head of the finance committee for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, browbeating ever-increasing amounts of money out of fat cat donors, and following [the] Clinton[‘s] into the White House as a senior adviser attuned to the wishes and profits of organized wealth.”

Pushing the edge of the envelope from the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt  and the ‘New Deal’ to the party of Warren Buffett and the ‘Buffett Rule’.

“After alienating most of Washington with his arrogance and bluster Emanuel left in 1998 and went into investment banking in Chicago, making more than $16 million in less than three years.

He came back to Washington as a three-term Illinois congressman, chaired the fundraising Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (calling on his Wall Street sources to get in on the gravy by electing so-called New Democrats over New Deal Democrats), and soon was back in the White House as Barack Obama’s chief of staff.”

640px-Average_Tax_Rates_for_Selected_income_groups_Under_a_fixed_Income_Distribution,_1960-2010
The Buffet Rule Map breakdown, courtesy of Wikipedia 2016…

laquanmcdonald

And now he’s mayor of Chicago, reelected last April for a second term, but, as historian Rick Perlstein wrote in The New Yorker a couple of months ago, “Chicagoan’s — and Democrats nationally — are suffering buyer’s remorse.”

Remember that shocking dash cam video of a black 17-year-old named Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by a Chicago policeman while he was walking away? Of course you do; who can forget it? Remember, too, that for 400 days the police kept the existence of the video secret and did nothing about the shooting. Meanwhile, the City of Chicago paid five million dollars to McDonald’s family, who at that point had not filed a lawsuit. But despite the large sum of money coughed up by his own administration, Emanuel claims he never saw the video. If that’s true, he was guilty of dreadful mismanagement; if he did know, he’s guilty of far worse.

Only after his re-election was the cover-up of the murder revealed. In Perlstein’s words, “Given that he surely would not have been reelected had any of this come out before the balloting, a recent poll showed that only 17 percent of Chicagoan’s believe him. And a majority of Chicagoan’s now think he should resign.””

By this time you may well be asking, “what could be worse?” Great question! And here’s my answer:

DWS
The Honorable Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, (D-FL) Congressperson and 1st Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (photo courtesy of The Florida-Sun Sentinel, 2012)

There was a time, politically, when the author of this posting had a great deal of respect for Congressman Wasserman-Schultz and many others in the 109th Congress – the U.S. Congress with which she entered politically..

Respecting her, and former Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek and Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.

These three, at one time, were the heavy-hitters, the ‘young guns’ of the Congress of the United States of America. That was until all of those scandals and troubles abounded out of the 109th Congress.

And rather than admit to those problems, and deal with them accordingly, the three-man tag team of Ford, Jr. Wasserman-Schultz and Meek, like so many of their colleagues, swept those controversies under the rug – passed the buck and left the American people to pay for the check.

Why am I not surprised?

“As for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she embodies the tactics that have eroded the ability of Democrats to once again be the party of the working class. As Democratic National Committee chair she has opened the floodgates for Big Money, brought lobbyists into the inner circle and oiled all the moving parts of the revolving door that twirls between government service and cushy jobs in the world of corporate influence.

She has played games with the party’s voter database, been accused of restricting the number of Democratic candidate debates and scheduling them at odd days and times to favor Hillary Clinton, and recently told CNN’s Jake Tapper that super delegates — strongly establishment and pro-Clinton — are necessary at the party’s convention so deserving incumbent officials and party leaders don’t have to run for delegate slots “against grassroots activists.” Let that sink in, but hold your nose against the aroma of entitlement.

[Wasserman-Schultz] has aligned herself with corporate interests out to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s effort to create national standards for the payday-lending industry, a business that in particular targets the poor. Payday loans, as Yuka Hayashi writes at The Wall Street Journal, “are quick credits of a few hundred dollars, with effective annual interest rates ranging between 300% and 500%. Loans are due in a lump sum on the borrower’s next payday, a structure that often sends people into cycles of debt by forcing them to take out new loans to repay the old ones.”

According to the nonpartisan Americans for Financial Reform, this tail-chasing cycle of “turned” loans to pay off previous loans makes up about 76 percent of the payday loan business. The Pew Charitable Trust found that in Wasserman Schultz’s home state, the average payday loan customer takes out nine such loans a year, which usually has them mired in debt for about half a year. … The very people, it must be acknowledged, who now have an ally in the chair of the Democratic National Committee, who has so engineered the rules of the current Democratic primary process so as to virtually assure her unlimited access to a Clinton White House where she can walk in freely to press the case for her … donors and pals.[..]”

But as with anything, there is hope! Meet Mr. Tim Canova. Mr. Canova is challenging Mrs. Wasserman-Schultz in her bid for re-election in a ‘barn-burner’ of a Democratic primary process in 2016 down in South Florida.

tim_canova
Professor Tim Canova, former California University School of Economics Teacher (photo courtesy of New Time of Broward and Palm Beach, 2016)…

As a long-time lawyer, educator and economics and policy adviser to Mr. Bernie Sanders and others Professor Canova has seen, first-hand, the devastating effects Wasserman-Schultz brand of governance on South Florida since he moved to Hollywood, FL. in 2012 from the greater Los Angeles, CA. area.

 “I’m very unhappy with Wasserman Schultz’s representation of the district. Time and time again, she has voted to protect the pools of dark money in politics. My dissatisfaction with her has gone back many months, to when she voted to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

As an outspoken critic of Wall Street and Madison Avenue Professor Canova seems like the natural protagonist to Wasserman-Schultz soft-core political porn:

“Given his own experience as an outspoken Wall Street critic, Canova came to one conclusion: He ought to run to take Wasserman Schultz out. So, on January 8, he officially announced his candidacy in Florida’s 23rd District, which encompasses Hollywood and Miami Beach. … He grew up on Long Island, attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and, after graduating, worked as a legislative aide to former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas. From there, he practiced commercial law at the then-prominent New York City law firm [of] Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander, and Ferguson.  Among [the] other prominent alumni [who practiced law there along side the likes of] Richard Nixon and former Sen. Pat Buchanan [,who] worked for the firm before going into politics.”

As the New Times of Broward and Palm Beach put it:

“[While]he has not received any sort of endorsement from the Sanders campaign. … Canova is an outspoken liberal who believes the Federal Reserve should be reformed. While at Chapman [University], Canova was driving to a meeting with then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2011 when he noticed an encampment had emerged around Los Angeles City Hall. It turned out to be one of the nation’s largest #OccupyWallStreet protests. [And] I found it fascinating,” he says. “The encampment itself was a revelation. There were a lot of young kids, for most part, who had voted for Obama just a year or two earlier, but the new administration had not done much of anything for this generation. Many were homeless or out of work, but they were intelligent people.””

As a ‘Wall Street reformer’ Mr. Canova was called upon by Senator Sanders and eighteen other economists to study a 2011 report released by the Fed’s own Government Accountability Office which detailed that ’employees and big bank owners’ for corporations like Goldman Sachs:

“sat on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks while their own firms received Fed [bailout] money.”

– What, I wonder, could ever be wrong with this picture? Well lets see.

goldmansachsusflagphoto
Goldman Sachs Offices in downtown New York, NY. USA (photo courtesy of Village Voice Magazine, 2013)…

CEO’s like Jamie Dimon and Heidi Cruz, wife of Texas Senator and 2016 Republican candidate for President Ted Cruz, benefited the most from Wasserman-Schultz governance and friendship in Congresses like the 109th in Washington, D.C…

Bailouts, balloon-payments and Golden parachutes that even former Hewlett-Packard CEO and newly minted Ted Cruz 2016 supporter Carly Fiorina have benefited from handsomely.

But such news hasn’t deterred or derailed Professor Canova to his ultimate goal, to become the next Congressman for the 23rd voting district for the State of Florida.

“After Wasserman Schultz voted to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership midway through 2015, Canova says he tried to contact the congresswoman’s office to explain his issues with the bill. He says he never heard back. So, he says, he had no choice but to try to remove her from office himself.” 

And its news like this that should be a sole comfort to folks like Mr. Moyers and Winship. To know that there are people like Professor Canova, Tammy Baldwin, Alan Grayson, Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren fighting the good fight, the progressive fight , in this and future Congresses.

A choice instead of the ‘status quo’, OR as Moyers and Winship concluded in their pleading:

“This is why [politicians like] Emanuel and Wasserman Schultz must go. To millions, they are enablers of the one percent, perpetrators of the Washington mentality that the rest of the country has grown to hate. What a message such servants of plutocracy send: Democrats — a bridge to the past.”

 

–Rhett.

 

 

The political parties and partiers of rules and regulations

Unless I miss my guess we are nowhere near finished with the POTUS 2016 primary process? I mean I could be wrong, BUT I thought that their were ’57 states’ left to vote? No?

BUT to hear it told and to have it said by those in the know in New York and Washington this is a feta compli. Trump v. Clinton. Clinton v. Trump. Watch.

 

That all this, while ‘nice’ and ‘admirable’ to support Bernie is well:

 

Simply process? Obviously this is a video for another related story, BUT I used the words there in to emphasis my point. That somehow these are the people, the political parties, Republicans and Democrats, and their media ilk who tells us, We the People, that they are about the rules, the regulations, and the process of it all, BUT the minute that Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump start to ‘pull away’ from the pack well this, this thing is over now so lets just call it a primary and go right on to the general e-lec-tion.

Well pardon me all to hello when I say, “this ain’t over with by a long shot”.

You say, “Well Rhett old buddy math matters.” Yes it does. And as of today HERE’S where we are in regards to that:

2016 Primary Delegate Count


SPONSORED LINK

As the primaries progress, the Democratic and Republican nomination will be decided by which candidate totals up the largest number of awarded state delegates from each caucus or primary vote. The complete delegate counts are listed below and updated frequently after each primary or caucus date. Each party has its own set of rules governing the number of delegates.

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For a list of how many delegates are at stake in each state, see the 2016 Primary Schedule.

Note: Delegate count will be updated within 24 hours following primary contests. It takes time for the vote totals to be certified and for accurate numbers to be released.

image: http://i1.wp.com/www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/GOP-Icon.png?zoom=1.5&resize=20%2C20

GOP-IconRepublican Delegate Count (Detailed State-By-State)
Need 1,237 out of 2,472 to clinch nomination

Candidate
Trump
Cruz
Rubio*
Kasich
Carson*
Uncommitted
Bush*
Fiorina*
Paul*
Huckabee*
Delegates 673 411 169 143 8 6 4 1 1 1

Related:Detailed State-By-State Republican Delegate Count

*Candidate has withdrawn from race. Rules vary by state, but delegates typically are no longer bound to the candidate who won them after the candidate drops out.


image: http://i0.wp.com/www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Democrat-Icon.png?zoom=1.5&resize=20%2C20

Democratic Delegate Count (Detailed State-By-State)
Need 2,383 out of 4,765 to clinch nomination

Candidate
Clinton
Sanders
Delegates 1139 825
Superdelegates^ 467 26

Related:Detailed State-By-State Democratic Delegate Count

^Superdelegates are Democratic Party leaders who are free to support any candidate at any time up to the convention

Read more at http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016-primary-delegate-count/#UhwrQRhFiGJx3QPe.99

When last I looked, and believe you me when I tell you I did, the math does matter and no one is anywhere NEAR the REQUIRED number of delegates to secure their respective political party’s nomination to become President of the United States of America in 2016.

Yet somehow though math matter, feta complies matter, process matters BUT only when their respective candidate for president is ahead.

All this reminds me of the line in the movie “Fargo,” the 1996 haunt by Joel and Ethan Cohen.  One of my all-time favorite films. And this back and forth between the two kidnappers in the film sums up well for me this whole Democratic process for 2016. Watch.

(NOTE: Excuse the adult language contained in this video below, do not watch with small children or young and impressionable teenagers in the room…Thank you!)

 

See you at the polls fellow voter! Process be damned.

— Rhett.

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